Donald Trump didn’t just announce that he would not be participating in the first Fox News debate, but he said that he would not be doing ‘debates’ which puts future debates in jeopardy, and it may be a terrible decision.
Trump posted on Truth Social, “New CBS POLL, just out, has me leading the field by “legendary” numbers. TRUMP 62%, 46 Points above DeSanctimonious (who is crashing like an ailing bird!), Ramaswamy 7%, Pence 5%, Scott 3%, Haley 2%, Sloppy Chris Christie 2%, “Aida” Hutchinson 1%. The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had, with Energy Independence, Strong Borders & Military, Biggest EVER Tax & Regulation Cuts, No Inflation, Strongest Economy in History, & much more. I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!”
Either Trump is making an epic mistake by trusting polling that has been shaky for years now, or he is so far ahead that the Republican presidential primary is over before any votes are cast.
Trump has been saying for months that he wasn’t going to participate in the debates, so this announcement was confirmation of what everyone has been expecting.
Where this could get very interesting is if the ratings for the Fox News debate are low without Trump. If Fox only does the same number of viewers that they would normally do in primetime, which is roughly 2-2.5 million viewers, sponsors will think twice about going forward with future debates since primary debates are entertainment programming that the cable networks rely on to drive ratings.
If Trump decides he’s not doing any primary debates, and no one watches the debates that are held, the planned debate schedule could wither away quickly.
Trump is only thinking about protecting his GOP primary lead, but what if the polls are wrong and he loses Iowa or New Hampshire? What if Trump refuses to do any debates, and then shows up to debate Biden rusty and unprepared?
Donald Trump wants the Republican nomination handed to him, but if he is wrong about the debates, he could be making a massive mistake.
It is very possible that Trump might have killed the Republican primary debate schedule, and it may come back to haunt him.